


In the ‘Iliad’, is being a good hero compatible with good leadership?

by Litsetaure



Category: The Iliad - Homer
Genre: Commentary, Essays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-19 03:58:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/879186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Litsetaure/pseuds/Litsetaure
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An essay on heroism and leadership and the compatibility of the two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the ‘Iliad’, is being a good hero compatible with good leadership?

** In the ‘Iliad’, is being a good hero compatible with good leadership? **

 

Passage for Discussion

**‘…Hector sent his voice ringing out to the whole Trojan army: “On with you, horse-taming Trojans! Smash the Greek wall and fire the ships!”**

**So he spoke, and there was no Trojan ear that did not catch his stirring call. Massing together, they charged at the wall and began to scale the parapet with sharp spears in their hands. But Hector seized and brought a rock that was lying in front of the gate. Broad at the base and coming to a point, it would have taxed the strength of the two best men in any town of the present generation to lever it up from the ground onto a waggon. But Hector handled it effortlessly on his own. Zeus, son of sickle-wielding Cronus, had made it light for him.**

**As a shepherd easily picks up a ram’s fleece in one hand, carries it off and scarcely feels the weight, so Hector lifted up the rock and brought it towards the planking that made up the high, strong, well-fitted double gates, which were held on the inside by two beams sliding in from either gate-post, locked by a single bolt. Hector went right up to them and bracing himself, legs wide apart for maximum power, hurled the rock, hit the doors full in the middle and smashed it out of its pivots on either side. The force of the throw propelled the rock through, and there was a great roar from the gate as the planks were smashed to splinters by the impact of the stone and the bars gave way.**

**In leapt glorious Hector, face dark as nightfall. He held two spears in his hands and  the bronze of his body-armour gleamed with a baleful light. None but a god could have met and held him as he sprang through that gate. And now, with fire flashing**

**from his eyes, he wheeled round to the crowd behind him and called on the Trojans to cross the wall. His men responded to his summons. Some swarmed over the wall; others poured in through the gates itself. The panic-stricken Greeks fled back to their hollow ships, and all hell broke loose.’**

 (Iliad, XII, 439-471) 

~*~

In this passage, the Trojans, led by Hector, have stormed the Greek camp, driving the Greek warriors back to their ships by the end of the passage. Initially, however, despite the bloodshed on both sides, the Trojans “were unable to set their enemies on the run”[1], until a moment when “Zeus gave the upper hand to Hector son of Priam”[2], who had been the first to enter the Greek camp.  

At this point, Homer has Hector showing some exceptional leadership as he first rallies his troops calling them to “smash the Greek wall and fire the ships!”[3] and then, as the Trojans rally together to attack, he proceeds to pick up a huge rock, possibly even a boulder, which he uses to smash the Greek gate. By doing so, Hector is showing his men how to act in the face of battle and danger and in showing the courage that he does, he sets a good example, particularly to the younger men in the Trojan army, of what a hero or a warrior should do in times of war.         

There is another concept, as well, behind Homer showing Hector performing such an act. As well as it being a means for Hector to give his men inspiration in fighting, Homer also uses it as a means to show Hector in a strong and heroic light, as he describes the effortlessness with which Hector first lifts, and then uses, the rock. This allows the audience and the reader to understand the truly heroic figure as someone who has an “extreme level of male energy, a level which the lesser men of later times can never reach”[4], which also gives an insight into the time that Homer looks back to in his poetry. The ‘Iliad’ in particular looks back to a time of great men and great heroes who could do things that great men living in the time that Homer was composing his poetry could not do. Indeed, when describing the great rock lifted by Hector, Homer says that “it would have taxed the strength of the two best men in any town”[5], describing Hector as someone who must be a great hero to be able to carry out such a task, and again showing the heroic society in which his poetry is set.          

This idea of incredible heroism is also echoed later in the poem, most notably when the hero Ajax, second only to Achilles in the Greek ranks, is seen defending the ships by “taking enormous strides [as he] kept moving from one ship’s deck to another”[6], showing his heroic speed and strength as he defends the ships, in the same way that, in this passage, Hector’s heroic strength is shown by his ability to first life the enormous rock, but then to also use it to smash the Greek gate.          

The use of language in this passage, even in translation, sets the tone for the situation very well indeed. With the use of phrases such as “there was a great roar from the gate”[7], Homer is almost able to make his audience visualise the shattering of the gate by Hector. The vivid descriptions of Hector actually throwing the rock with such power that it “hit the door full in the middle and smashed it out of its pivots on either side”[8] are told in such a way as to show the carnage that war brings, but also, once again, to echo a time of great heroes and great deeds.           

These deeds are told in such a way as to be familiar to the audience to whom Homer was performing his poetry. This is shown here especially by the description of how Hector handles the rock “as a shepherd easily picks up a ram’s fleece…and scarcely feels the weight, so Hector lifted up the rock”[9] , which shows how the concept of a heroic warrior culture such as the ‘Iliad’ was very much foreign to Homer’s audience, but other cultures, such as agricultural and farming cultures were absolutely normal to his audience. Homer therefore uses similes that would allow him to explain one society to another, as is shown here. He also uses a variety of epithets, not only in this passage, but also throughout the poem, such as referring to the Trojans as “horse-taming Trojans” frequently, as this, like the description of a shepherd picking up a sheep’s fleece to describe the ease with which Hector picks up the rock, is another example of how Homer is able to show a heroic society by using agricultural similes in order to make the heroic society of the ‘Iliad’ more understandable to his audience by using language familiar to them. The description of the Trojans is also interesting, however, because it brings about a small degree of foreshadowing about how this war will end, with the Greeks sacking Troy thanks to the plan of entering the city in the wooden horse. It also foreshadows the end of the poem, as the final line of the poem is “Such were the funeral rites of horse-taming Hector”[10] and the Trojans mourn for the loss of their greatest warrior.

The end of the passage is also the end of Book 12 of the ‘Iliad’. It ends with Hector calling the Trojans to cross into the Greek camp, which they do and with “the panic-stricken Greeks [fleeing] back to their hollow ships [as] all hell broke loose.”[11] Such an ending to the book is interesting, because it appears to be a very abrupt ending, as it has been leading up to what looks to be a huge, violent battle. Once again, by leaving the potentially huge battle until the next book, Homer is foreshadowing the bloodshed that is to come, rather than showing it right at the end of this extremely intense passage of action after the Greek gate was broken, giving the audience a sense of great anticipation of what is to come later in the poem.

 

~*~

 

The main subject of epic poetry is heroism and war, as war was one of the most serious, and epic, ideas a poet could write about. In writing the ‘Iliad’, Homer looks back to an age ‘containing Mycenaean, Migration and Dark-Age ingredients…mixed freely to create a world appropriate to his heroes.’[12] Homer is looking back to an age of great men and heroic deeds, when he was composing his poetry at the end of the ‘Dark Age’ in Greece.        

Ancient society is, by and large, what is known as a ‘shame culture’. The heroes in Homer’s ‘Iliad’ worry what other people will think of them. It is for this reason that, when Agamemnon is forced to give up Chryseis, he becomes unhappy, claiming that he will be “the only one…without a prize”[13] and if he ends up the only man without a prize, he will look bad in front of his men. It is his response to this, however, that prompts Achilles’ actions, with disastrous consequences.           

One of the main concepts of the ‘Iliad’ is the idea of a ‘heroic code’, now widely used by modern scholars as a basic set of heroic values. It is, however, a common idea that part of the heroic code is that, if a man is a hero, then he has to be the best at what he does. Being a hero, he may die young, killed by another great hero, so it is important that he proves himself in his short life by killing other heroes, as heroes are men who “affirm their greatness by the brilliance…with which they kill”[14] as well as the heroes whom they kill, so they are judged on results in battle.                 

Elsewhere, except for in the ‘Iliad’, the concept of a hero is one of a man or a figure who is greatly worshipped in certain cults. In the ‘Iliad’, however, to be a hero “signifies a warrior who lives and dies in the pursuit of honour and glory”[15] and a great example of this type of hero is the fearsome leader of the Myrmidon warriors, Achilles, who had a choice of fate and when he could die. Achilles’ choice was that he could either fight gloriously, die young, but be remembered forever, or he could die old in his home, but his “heroic glory will be forfeit, but [his] life will be long and [he] will be spared an early death.”[16] By choosing to fight in the Trojan War, Achilles forfeited long life, but achieved everlasting fame. 

It can be argued, however, that with regards to the concept of what constitutes a hero in Homeric society, Achilles wins his fame for the wrong reasons. In Homeric society, heroes are remembered for their valiant deeds in battle and for killing other great heroes. Achilles’ fame, chiefly, is not for such deeds in battle, despite his killing of Hector, but he is instead remembered as the Greek warrior who defected from the Greek army following his quarrel with Agamemnon, which is not the general action one would associate with such a hero.

While these are the general principles of the heroic code, certain heroes in the ‘Iliad’ view the code and their heroic priorities differently. Achilles, for example, is fighting to win ‘kleos’[17] and ‘timē’[18], in particular from Agamemnon, with whom he has a background of, he believes, not being given enough respect, as shown when Achilles speaks of how Agamemnon had treated him “like some refugee who counted for nothing”[19] during his reply to Ajax when the embassy is sent to him, after being offered prizes by Agamemnon if he returns to the fighting. Agamemnon, however, is not showing Achilles the ‘timē’ and honour he deserves by offering him these gifts, because Agamemnon “is offering to include Achilles within his own sphere as son-in-law and subordinate”[20], meaning that, even by making such a grand gesture, he will still be above Achilles in rank.           

Achilles’ nearest Trojan equivalent, Hector, has some similar heroic values to Achilles. Like Achilles, Hector goes out to fight because he wants to be heroic and he wants to win ‘timē’. In a conversation with his wife Andromache, she begs him not to fight, knowing that, if Hector died, she would lose everything as Hector is “father and mother and brother…as well as my strong husband”[21] after Achilles had sacked her home town and killed her father and her seven brothers.           

Hector, however, ignores her pleas not to fight, because he had “trained [himself] always to be a good warrior…and try and win glory for [his] father and [himself]”.[22] Hector knows that, by going into the fighting, he will leave his family behind at his death, but if he stayed at Troy “like a cowards and slunk from the fighting”[23], then he would receive only ‘aidos’, which means shame. If, however, he went out to fight, and even if he died, he would still win the ‘timē’ and honour he desired, as, by dying bravely, he can win glory as he has died in an act that “puts a seal on a life lived in accordance with…standards of heroic excellence”[24] as he will die being killed by a great hero.          

Interestingly, it is this moment that Homer puts into his audience’s mind the fact that Hector will eventually die. After Hector leaves Troy, Andromache and her waiting women “mourned for Hector in his own house, though he was still alive”[25], showing that they are sure that he will not survive the battle with the Greeks, and showing how “Hector’s story begins, as it ends, with his funeral”[26], an idea not only foreshadowing Hector’s death, but also the death of other great heroes, as it is ultimately through doing heroic deeds that a hero will meet his death, which arguably raises questions about a hero’s leadership, if they become so involved with their heroic deeds that they end up getting killed, therefore diminishing the defences of their allies and, in the case of Hector, leaving Troy without its best leader.          

While Hector and Achilles are fighting for themselves, certain heroes in the ‘Iliad’ view heroism as something other than killing heroes. One of these heroes is Sarpedon, who speaks to his comrade Glaucus, that the people of Lycia have them “singled out for honour…they all look up to [them] as gods”[27] and that they are not fighting to defend Lycia and its people, but “on behalf of their status within it”[28], as they know they have a duty to fight better than common people in battle, because they are better than common people. Therefore, Sarpedon’s view of a hero’s privileges is that they must be earned by the hero doing his duty in battle, but they also show “the warrior’s special status and role”[29].           

In his speech to Glaucus[30], Sarpedon’s perspective shifts, as initially he praises the role of the warrior, saying that he “could be sure of becoming ageless and immortal”[31] thanks to the glory of war, but he then goes on to say “a thousand demons of death hover…and nobody can escape or avoid them”[32], so that, even though a hero may be metaphorically immortal, because of his fame, he cannot be literally immortal, because mortal men must eventually die.         

The concept of heroism in the ‘Iliad’ clashes on several occasions with the concept of leadership, raising the question of whether, when having an army to consider, the heroic option is necessarily the best option.          

One example of whether the heroic option is the best option is an exchange between Hector and his right-hand man, Polydamas, who advises Hector to “withdraw into the town now and not wait for daylight here in the open”[33], because while Achilles was absent, there was a chance of victory for the Trojans. Now that Achilles has returned, however, Polydamas advises Hector that Achilles “will never be content to stay in the plain”[34], but he will target Troy and Hector himself.           

Hector, however, rebukes Polydamas, telling him that “the man who tells [him] to retreat…no longer speaks [his] language”[35], as he wants to fight and win ‘timē’, but, in deciding to fight Achilles, Hector makes his ‘hamartia’, or his fatal error, because he pays for his heroic desire with his life. In fighting Achilles and dying, Hector leaves Troy without a leader, thus raising questions over his ability to balance leadership with his desire to be a hero. That said, while at this point, Hector’s judgement is fatally clouded by this, it would not be fair to say that he wholly fails in his duty as a leader. Indeed, there are occasions where he shows exceptional leadership, most notably in his fight with Ajax. When he sees his opponent, he feels fear, but he knows that he cannot “turn tail and slink back among his men”[36], because, if he turns away from the fight, his men will lose hope. By fighting Ajax, Hector is sending a message to his troops, which will boost their morale. He also sends the same message when, after being hit by a spear, he continues to fight, showing that he will not give up.

Another hero in the poem whose leadership comes under scrutiny is Agamemnon, most particularly at the start of the poem. In the ‘Iliad’, Homer echoes the values of poetry, where the heroes, are the ‘aristos’, or the best, and Agamemnon is the most powerful king. However, it is not true to say that, just because he is the most powerful, everything that he says goes, because Achilles feels able to stand up to him. In the assembly at the start of the poem, when the Greeks are discussing how to placate Apollo, Agamemnon’s judgement is clouded, but not by his desire to do heroic deeds, but instead by his fear that, if he loses Chryseis, he will look bad in front of his men, which causes him to take the action which precedes Achilles’ withdrawal from the fighting. It is this which calls into question his capacity as a leader because it he often lets his pride get in the way of his judgement, with disastrous consequences following Achilles’ actions.          

Finally, Achilles’ ideas of leadership also come under scrutiny as, like Hector, he fights for himself so he can win ‘kleos’ and be seen as a great hero and this desire for fame is what brings about his ‘hamartia’ when he leaves the fighting in the first place, and then allows Patroclus to fight instead. However, when he decides to send his men into battle, Achilles makes “an encouraging speech, he takes his place at the head of the contingent…and starts the advance to battle”[37]. Like Hector during the fight with Ajax, Achilles show good leadership by rallying his troops, showing that, at this point, a hero can be a good leader, by giving his troops the motivation and encouragement they need. However, Achilles negates this following Patroclus’ death, when he vows to bring back “the armour and head of Hector”[38] so that he can avenge Patroclus’ death and show that he has killed a great hero, thereby showing that, like Hector, Achilles can let his personal feelings and his heroic desires cloud his judgement, whereas a good leader should be focused primarily on his troops and not on his feelings and desires.      

The question, therefore, of whether being a good hero is compatible with good leadership, comes down to how well the heroes in the poem balance the two qualities. Throughout the ‘Iliad’, save for certain instances, it is generally the case that the major heroes of the poem, Achilles, Hector and, to an extent, Agamemnon, are unable to balance the two, because they are fighting this war for themselves and their desire for fame is their downfall, especially for Hector, who’s tragic end could have been avoided had he not fought Achilles.               

****

 

* * *

 

[1] Homer “The Iliad”, Penguin Classics, published 2003, originally translated by E.V. Rieu, revised and updated by Peter Jones and D. C. H. Rieu; Book 12, line 432

[2] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, line 438

[3] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, line 440

[4] Clarke, M. “Manhood and Heroism” in Fowler, R. (ed.) “The Cambridge Companion to Homer” , published Cambridge 2004; p. 80

[5] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, lines 447-448

[6] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 15, lines 685-686

[7] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, lines 460-462

[8] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, lines 458-459

[9] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, lines 451-453

[10] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 24, line 804

[11] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, lines 470-471

[12] Van Wees, H. “Leaders of Men? Military Organisation in the ‘Iliad’” in “Classical Quarterly 36”, published 1986; p.285

[13] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 1, lines 119-120

[14] Schein, S.L. “The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer’s Iliad”, published Los Angeles 1985; p.68

[15] Schein, S.L. “The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer’s Iliad”; p.69

[16] Homer, “The Iliad”; Book 9, lines 414-415

[17] Translates as ‘reputation’ or ‘renown’

[18] Best translated as ‘respect’

[19] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 9, line 648

[20] Redfield, J.M. “Nature and Culture in the ‘Iliad’: The Tragedy of Hector”, published Chicago and London, 1975; p.16

[21] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 6, line 430

[22] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 6, lines 446-448)

[23] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 6, line 441

[24] Schein, S.L. “The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer’s Iliad”; p.68

[25] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 6, line 500

[26] Redfield, J.M “Nature and Culture in the Iliad: The Tragedy of Hector”; p.127

[27] Homer “The Iliad”, Book 12, lines 310-312

[28] Redfield, J.M “Nature and Culture in the Iliad: The Tragedy of Hector”; p.100

[29] Redfield, J.M “Nature and Culture in the Iliad: The Tragedy of Hector”; p.100

[30] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, lines 310-328

[31] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, line 323

[32] Homer “The Iliad”; Book 12, lines 326-327

[33] Homer “The Iliad”, Book 18, lines 256-257

[34] Homer “The Iliad”, Book 18, lines 262-263

[35] Homer “The Iliad”, Book 18, lines 285-287

[36] Homer “The Iliad”, Book 7, lines 217-218

[37] Van Wees, H. “Leaders of Men? Military Organisation in the ‘Iliad’” in “Classical Quarterly 36”; p.285

[38] Homer “The Iliad”, Book 18, lines 335-336

**Author's Note:**

> Bibliography
> 
> • Clarke, M. “Manhood and Heroism” in Fowler, R. (ed.) “The Cambridge Companion to Homer”, published Cambridge 2004.
> 
> • Edwards, M. W. “Homer, Poet of the Iliad’, published Baltimore 1987.
> 
> • Griffin, J. “Homer on Life and Death”, published Oxford 1980.
> 
> • Homer “The Iliad” – Penguin Classics, published 2003, originally translated by E. V. Rieu, revised and updated by Peter Jones and D. C. H. Rieu.
> 
> • Redfield, J.M. “Nature and Culture in the Iliad: The Tragedy of Hector”, published Chicago 1975.
> 
> • Schein, S.L. “The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer’s Iliad”, published Los Angeles 1985.
> 
> • Van Wees, H. “Leaders of Men? Military Organisation in the ‘Iliad’” in “Classical Quarterly 36”, published 1986.


End file.
